Kazan University returns to the Antarctic
Vice-Rector for Earth Sciences Danis Nurgaliev joins the 67th Russian Antarctic Expedition.
His companions are Alexander Pastukhovich (Research Associate, Ural Federal University), Vitaly Lazo and Ruslan Kolunin (professional extreme guides from the Snow Leopards group), Sergey Kud-Sverchkov (cosmonaut), and investor Andrey Nazarov. The trip is also supported by oilfield services firms TNG Group and Paker LLC. It’s set to end on November 25.
As Danis Nurgaliev explains, the expedition aims to find meteorite matter and retrieve samples of surface rocks. Before embarking to the southern continent, the team assembled in Cape Town, South Africa, to spend a two-week quarantine and listen to a series of lectures on meteorite science. The lectures were provided by leading experts from Russia, Finland, and the United States.
The expedition starts at Novolazarevskaya, the Russian station in the Antarctic, and moves to Wohlthat, a mountain range 180 km to the south.
Interestingly, Danis Nurgaliev studied meteorites during his trip to the Atacama Desert, Chile, in 2019. Notably, both that expedition and this year’s one were initiated by Alexander Pastukhovich.
Of course, Kazan University has had a long history of links to the Antarctic – starting from 1820, when Ivan Simonov, astronomer and later Rector of Kazan University, was part of the Russian circumnavigation which discovered the ice continent. Lately, employees of KFU visited the Antarctic in 2006 and 2014.
Source text: Regina Badrutdinova
Photo: Ruslan Kolunin
Translation: Yury Nurmeev